Breaking the Pattern
by Gryvon
Summary: OMC/Iruka, Kakashi/Iruka. Iruka's well known for his poor choice in partners. Both Tsunade and Kakashi take it as their mission to break Iruka out of his bad habit.
1. Chapter 1

"Two." Kakashi discarded into the pile and slipped the new cards Azuma handed him into his hand. His luck was running foul tonight. So far the best he'd managed was two pair and that was a world better than the cards staring back at him now.

"Anyone want a beer?" Anko called from Genma's kitchen.

Kakashi raised a hand. His fingers closed around the beer that smacked into his palm seconds later. "Nice throw," he complimented without looking up and sighed. "Fold." He dropped his cards onto the table. There went another twenty.

Genma and Raidou looked up as a soft knock sounded from the door, almost drowned out by the pouring rain.

"I fold." Genma tossed his cards onto the table as he stood.

Kakashi glanced surreptitiously around the room, wondering who they were missing. All the regulars were present, scattered around Genma's coffee table. Kurenai sat between Kakashi and Azuma, with Anko watching from the couch. Raidou sat on the opposite side of the table.

The door opened. Genma's body blocked sight of the visitor. Soft words were exchanged and then Genma moved aside, ushering his visitor in. Kakashi blinked. He almost didn't recognize Iruka as he walked in. The scar across Iruka-sensei's nose gave him away, but that was where the similarities ended. Loose, wet black hair hid most of Iruka-sensei's face, clinging to his cheeks. Iruka was drenched, his clothes dripping water onto Genma's hardwood floor.

Iruka glanced into the living room and did a surprisingly good impression of a startled deer before swinging his wide-eyed gaze back to Genma. "I-I can leave. You have company and I..."

Genma's hand was on Iruka's back, guiding the chuunin into the room. "We can talk in my bedroom." Iruka tugged nervously at his sleeves but didn't look over again. Genma shot a look over Kakashi's head. Anko stood and followed Genma into the bedroom. The door shut behind them.

* * *

Iruka stared at the closed door, his lips trembling. Genma's fingers moved through a familiar jutsu. Green light flashed along the corners of the room and that was Iruka's breaking point. His breath escaped in a loud gasp. Strong arms came around him, guiding him backwards to sit on the bed. He sobbed into Genma's shoulder, only barely aware of Anko's hand rubbing circles on his back.

"It's okay," Genma murmured into his wet hair. "It's okay."

Anko moved away and then there was a heavy cloth on his head. Fingers rubbed along his scalp, drawing the moisture from his hair before moving down to his shoulders. Genma pulled away to rummage through his drawers. He returned with a faded t-shirt and gray pajama pants.

"Here. You'll feel better when you're dry."

Iruka sniffled slightly in an attempt to pull himself back together. He stood slowly, his body protesting each movement. His wet clothing clung to his skin, reluctant to come off. Genma took the wet items from him and disappeared into the attached bathroom. Anko held out the towel for him and politely looked away. She wouldn't normally but Iruka felt a bit better knowing she was doing so for him. He toweled off quickly and pulled on the dry clothes.

Genma was right. He did feel a bit better, but not by much. Physical discomfort was the least of his problems.

Anko leaned precariously off the bed to grab Iruka's hand and pull him back to the bed. She didn't let go once he was settled, and he let his head fall on her shoulder. Genma returned, flicking off the light in the bathroom as he left, and settled on Iruka's opposite side.

"What happened?" Genma asked.

Iruka stared down at his arms. They had noticed the bruises. The t-shirt did nothing to cover his forearms and they would have seen the ones along his back, the dark marks down his legs. Genma pulled Iruka's hair away from his face, revealing a large bruise on Iruka's cheek.

They were waiting for him. Memories of the fight with Maki pressed in around him and he whimpered, shivering in remembered fear. "I..." He wasn't sure where to start, what to say. They were going to blame Maki, no matter what he said. His instincts screamed to protect Maki, even now, but he knew better than to lie to jounin.

"W-we were alright. He was over for dinner, and things had been... good. I mean he gets a little moody sometimes but he'd never... but he wasn't really touching his food, just drinking sake, and then h-he... he said something about rumors and how he'd heard about Miyuki and Hayate and I..." Iruka shuddered and brought his legs up closer to his chest. Genma pulled a blanket over him. "I didn't know what to say. I mean, some of it was true but the rest... I think he was just making it up because I'd never... and then he said... he called me..." Iruka swallowed quickly and forced himself to keep his eyes open. He could still hear how angry Maki sounded, could still feel his hands and... Anko's fingers entwined with his, grounding him back in the present.

"He said I was a whore and asked me how many other guys I'd slept with before him. It's not like he didn't know. I mean, those relationships ended a long time ago. Did he think I'd been celibate the entire time up until we met? I said as much, and then he got really mad." He remembered the way Maki's face had turned bright red and the table had broken. Then Maki's hands were on him. Iruka tightened his grip on Anko's hand. The fight had been over hours ago but the fear hadn't yet left him. "He pushed me down. I tried to fight him but he was stronger and then he hit me on the back of the neck, did something to my chakra and..." Iruka let the words die of.

He should have fought harder. He should have used jutsu first, sorted out hurt feelings later. They could have fixed that, when Maki was sober. This... he wasn't sure he wanted to fix this.

"Did he... force you?" Anko's face was dark. He didn't have to look up to know Genma was just as angry.

His lack of response told them everything they needed to know.

* * *

Raidou stared at the closed door and sighed. "I hope Makitomo likes the cold."

Kurenai snorted softly. "Assuming he makes it that far. Accidents do happen, and it's a dangerous time of year to travel." She took a rather vicious swig from her beer, setting it back on the table far harder than necessary.

Kakashi stared at the suddenly grim faces all around him, confused. "I'm missing something here."

"You know Makitomo?" The name sounded like a curse on Kurenai's lips.

Kakashi nodded slowly. "He's a jounin, a couple years older than me. I may have done a mission with him once, though it would have been years ago."

"Yeah, well, he's a bastard, apparently, so don't be surprised if he's transferred out of Konoha very soon."

That didn't really explain much at all. Kakashi strained his ears but he couldn't hear a sound from the other room. Silencing jutsu, most likely, though Kakashi wasn't sure why they'd need one.

Azuma leaned across the table. "Iruka and Makitomo were an item. Considering Iruka's here, like that, that means things just ended, and rather messily from the looks of it."

"So, Iruka's going to make Makitomo leave the village?" That made even less sense to Kakashi. From what he knew of the teacher, he was overprotective of his children but he'd seemed like a rather pleasant person overall.

Kurenai shook her head. "No, Tsunade is, as soon as she finds out."

This was why he stayed out of village drama, Kakashi thought. Far too confusing. "So Tsunade's going to send Makitomo out of the village because he broke up with a teacher?"

The others shared a meaningful glance.

"Iruka has a type," Raidou explained slowly. "It's hit or miss sometimes, I mean, it's not like Iruka always falls for assholes. There were a few decent guys scattered in there, but when it ends like this..." Raidou pointed at Kakashi with the mouth of his beer. "Don't ask about the bruises."

The door opened again, cutting off the question Kakashi was about to ask. Genma and Anko emerged, trailed by a now-dry Iruka. The chuunin's clothes were different, likely borrowed from Raidou and Genma's collective closet. Dark bruises in the shape of hands decorated Iruka's arms and it looked like he had a rather impressive bruise on the side of his face, mostly hidden under his loose hair.

The chuunin didn't look up as he settled on the couch next to Anko, his head on Anko's shoulder. Kakashi found himself acutely aware of the teacher's presence behind his back.

Raidou set his cards down. "Call."

Kurenai and Azuma echoed it. Cards revealed, Raidou collected chips and added them to his already massive pile.

"Did you want dealt in?" Azuma asked Iruka.

"No. Thank you." Iruka sounded slightly hoarse.

Kurenai leaned back. "Can I get you anything?"

"I'm fine." Anko's arm was around the chuunin, rubbing softly along his arm.

New cards appeared in front of Kakashi. Raidou drained the last of his beer and stood to get more, returning with a full six pack. He passed two to Kurenai, who opened both and handed one to Iruka. He accepted it without a word. Kakashi wondered if he should leave. The others seemed much more familiar with Iruka. He felt like he was in the way, but if he left now, they'd know why he was leaving. He wasn't sure he wanted to leave Iruka with that kind of impression.

Cards moved, more beer appeared. Kakashi continued to lose spectacularly. He blamed it on the beer, like he always did. Kurenai was the first to leave, dragging a drunk Azuma off with her. Raidou took over the deck, dealing yet another round and handing Kakashi back a few of his lost chips when Kakashi ran out of cash. Anko finally uncurled from the couch, ruffling Iruka's hair as she stood and Kakashi figured that was his cue to leave as well. He folded, handing the rest of his borrowed chips back to Raidou as he stood. Muscles popped as he stretched. He handed Anko her umbrella as he pulled his coat from the closet.

Kakashi couldn't help glancing back at Iruka as he left, strange emotions swirling in his stomach.

* * *

Iruka said nothing as Raidou packed up the poker equipment, sliding the cards back into their box and sorting the chips into a tin. Genma moved around the room, tossing beer bottles and paper plates into a large garbage bag. Raidou stood and circled the table.

"Up we go." Hands under Iruka's armpits lifted him to his feet and then Raidou was pushing him towards the bedroom. Behind them, lights went out. He could hear Genma locking the door and moving around the apartment, checking to make sure it was secure.

Iruka crawled under the covers while Raidou changed.

"Does he think I'm weak?"

Raidou glanced down at him. "Who?"

"Kakashi."

The jounin shrugged. "I don't think so. Do you know each other?"

Iruka thought about that for a second. "I... I know Kakashi. He was Naruto's teacher, but... I think we've only ever really spoken twice, and I yelled at him when he nominated Naruto for the Chuunin Exams and..." Was that all there was between them? The list seemed too short.

"He doesn't think less of you, or at least if he does, we'll set him straight," Genma said as he walked into the room, closing the bedroom door behind him.

Cold air ghosted over Iruka's front as the covers were lifted. Raidou's arms went around Iruka's waist, pulling him close. The sheets rubbed against Iruka's bruises, reminding him of Maki. He bit his lip and told himself he wasn't going to cry. He'd done enough of that already tonight. The blankets moved again as Genma settled behind him, draping an arm over both Iruka and Raidou.

"Think you can sleep?" Genma asked.

Iruka nodded slowly and closed his eyes. This wasn't the first time he'd ended up in Genma and Raidou's bed. He doubted it would be the last. But right now, it was warm and comfortable and made him feel safe. As he drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but remember the way Kakashi's eyes had constantly darted back to him during the night and the way Kakashi had looked at him right before he left.

He really hoped the jounin didn't think less of him after tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

Iruka glanced warily at the clock. Fifteen minutes until the end of his shift and he couldn't stop fidgeting. Of course that had a lot to do with Tsunade standing in the doorway behind him, her foot tapping out a faint staccato as she waited. Waited for him, to be exact. He wasn't sure how much she knew, or how much Genma and the others had told her. Not that it wasn't damn obvious. Iruka bit his lip to stop from cursing.

He was an idiot. A complete, fucking idiot. Why did he keep falling for the same stupid shit over and over again? And it always ended like this. Well, not exactly like this. The repair bill for his apartment was going to be slightly larger than normal. He wondered if she knew... she always knew. The carpenters had probably given her an itemized list of every wall that was dented, every door off its hinges. He'd hidden the bruises on his wrists, but his face... there was nothing he could do about his face.

The tapping stopped. Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose. At least he hadn't had to deal with Maki yet today. The string of jounin and chuunin that had been following him all day might have had something to do with that.

"Iruka-sensei," Tsunade's voice came from right behind him, "may I have a word with you in my office?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

Iruka stood, eyes downcast, and followed Tsunade to her office. Wood scraped on wood. Tsunade's fingers danced on the edge of the chair until Iruka sat. He couldn't hide his wince.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared. "What happened?"

He leaned forward, putting a little distance between the back of the chair and his bruises. "It's not-"

"Iruka," Tsunade cut him off, her eyebrow arching. "Don't give me excuses that it's not Makitomo's fault. By your version, it's never their fault. Just tell me what happened."

This must be what his students felt like. He sighed. "We... argued. I think he might have been a little drunk and he... got mad. I left after he started to cool off."

"You missed the part about being thrown into furniture and raped."

Iruka paled, subconsciously tugging his sleeves down. "I... he didn't..."

"Don't lie to me!"

His jaw snapped shut. "It wasn't as bad as that," he whispered. "He hurt me, but I don't think he meant to go that far." He kept his eyes down. If he looked up... he wasn't sure what kind of expression Tsunade would have. He didn't want to know. The last thing he wanted was another person pitying him.

"No offense, Iruka, but you're not exactly impartial in all of this. I've had numerous reports of what happened. Your neighbors heard the fight. Genma and the others saw the bruises. The carpenters assessed the damage." Tsunade's voice dropped slightly. Hearing the pity was almost as bad as seeing it. "Whether or not you think it was bad, I cannot tolerate this kind of behavior in one of Konoha's ninja."

"But..." He still felt like somehow it was his fault.

Tsunade sighed. "Iruka, how many times do we have to go through this? You know I won't think any less of you for what happened. No decent ninja would." The front legs of her chair hit the floor with a loud thud. "But this... habit of yours... I know you don't intend it, just bad luck really, but... Iruka, look at me."

Slowly, Iruka looked up. There was that pity, tainting the line of Tsunade's mouth and practically pouring from her eyes.

"Somehow, this has to stop. You have friends, Iruka. Trust them. I don't care if you have to resort to a background check on every guy you even think of sleeping with. Or, better yet, fight back. I know you can. You could be a jounin in your own right if you had the ambition for it, and yet you let them-"

"Stop it!" He was shaking. He wasn't quite sure when it'd started, or how to get it to stop. "Please. I know. I know that I'm a stupid idiot when it comes to falling in love and somehow I seem to keep getting it wrong, but I don't know how to get it right. Makimoto was great, really great and then all of a sudden he goes mad as soon as he finds out he's not the first guy I've ever slept with. I thought he knew. I didn't even do anything wrong and yet somehow I hurt him." Iruka stood, placing both his hands flat on the Hokage's desk. "How am I supposed to predict that!? And Andou before him, how was I supposed to know he was going to get some weird notion that I was cheating on him with Anko? I mean, if I'm being fucked by a guy, with a long history of being a bottom, how does that equate to suddenly taking an interest in sleeping with women?"

He belatedly realized that he'd started shouting. Tsunade leaned forward slightly, their faces bare inches apart.

"I don't care how much you love the bastard. Next time your lover drops off the deep end, he'd better be the one in need of medical attention, not you."

"But, I can't fight someone I-"

"No excuses. You're a ninja, dammit. Act like one."

Iruka sank back into his chair. He wasn't sure what to say. This strange confidence the Hokage had in his fighting ability was almost worse than the pity. At least the pity he'd had practice dealing with. "Y-yes, Hokage-sama." What if he couldn't defend himself? Would he be facing disappointment the next time Tsunade called him into her office?

Tsunade settled back into her chair and crossed her arms. "You're dismissed."

"Y-yes."

The chair almost tipped over as he stood. Iruka hastily caught it, setting it upright before quickly leaving. Tsunade didn't understand what she was asking of him. It wasn't that simple. There was a huge difference between fighting someone for a mission and fighting someone he actually cared about. It'd be the same if he suddenly had to spar with Raidou or Azuma. Friend or lover, it just wasn't in him to harm them.

Iruka wished, not for the first time, that love was a simpler thing.

* * *

Kakashi turned the page of his book and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. It wasn't strange for a jounin to be hanging out near the Mission Room. Not strange at all. Okay, so maybe a little strange, since the Mission Room was closed which meant he wasn't waiting for a mission, he was waiting for a person and... Dammit, he was being obvious.

He closed his book with a snap. The novel disappeared into his uniform as he glanced around. There were food stalls still open, but if he was already eating then that kind of ruined the point of asking Iruka to dinner because then he'd have eaten twice and while he was pretty sure his stomach could hold that much food, that would give Iruka a reason to say no out of politeness sake. Which meant he was left with either standing around and being so obvious about his intentions that the entire village would have it figured out in under an hour and then Iruka would know, or... or he could go buy... something.

His options: bookstore, weapons shop, or groceries. Kakashi chose the grocer and very deliberately started examining tomatoes, occasionally squeezing one to test the ripeness.

Iruka was certainly taking a while.

A shadow fell over Kakashi. He looked up, smiling behind his mask as Juniaki Toumo glared at him, the burly former-ANBU's muscles not at all concealed by the thin t-shirt he wore.

"Are you here to buy something or are you so hard-pressed for a date that you've settled for molesting produce?"

Kakashi was very glad his mask hid the look of surprise on his face. He had the feeling he was about to be thrown out of the shop if he didn't explain himself very fast. Toumo had been ANBU. He'd understand.

Glancing quickly side to side to make sure there was no one in earshot, Kakashi leaned forward. "I'm waiting for Iruka-sensei."

Toumo's demeanor changed instantly. The man actually smiled, something Kakashi was fairly certain he'd never seen before.

"Well, in that case, you should be over here with the kiwi. He likes those." Kakashi was propelled quite forcibly towards the fresh fruits. A shopping basket was shoved in his hands.

"I... um... thank you?"

Toumo clapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking Kakashi into a stand of oranges. He'd have to keep in mind never to piss off Toumo. The man could have probably broken a few ribs just by hugging him too hard.

"Not a problem. I hear that Makitomo fellow's heading out of town soon."

Kakashi frowned slightly. Was he the only one in town that didn't pay attention to Iruka-sensei's love life? "That's what Raidou said."

Toumo just nodded and absently wiped off a shelf with the corner of his apron. "Never did like that kid too much." Kakashi refrained from pointing out that Makitomo wasn't that much younger than Toumo. "But Iruka," Toumo smiled again, white teeth flashing, "he's quite the catch. Comes by here a few times a week, sometimes just to say hi. Ah, if only I were younger..."

Kakashi wasn't quite certain he wanted to picture Iruka and Toumo together. That thought was just... weird. "I see," he said instead and picked up a kiwi, squeezing the fruit lightly. It seemed fresh. "So... kiwi?"

The shopkeeper gave him a quick once-over before nodding slightly. "Aye. Do you cook?"

"Um... a bit." He knew enough to feed himself on more than just instant noodles and rice, though he couldn't really remember the last time he'd actually gone to any sort of effort over it.

Kakashi suddenly found himself with two bags full of groceries, a slightly lighter wallet, and a hastily scribbled recipe on the back of his receipt. Toumo's timing was apparently perfect. Iruka was just stepping out of the Academy as Kakashi finished paying. Toumo shoved him out of the grocer's shop hard enough that he almost lost a couple kiwis down the street.

"Oh, Iruka-sensei, fancy running into you here." Kakashi put on his brightest smile as he stumbled upright.

Iruka was staring at him, his face a strange blend of emotion running from surprised to terrified.

Kakashi forced his grin wider and held up his grocery bags. "Would you like to join me for dinner? I seem to have bought a bit too much, but Toumo started talking about this pasta dish that sounded good and then... well, you can see what happened..."

He could almost see the thoughts running through Iruka's head. The chuunin hesitated, glancing between the bags in Kakashi's hand and the shopkeeper behind him. "I..."

"I promise not to burn anything."

Iruka's shoulders visibly relaxed. Kakashi would have to remember that phrase, as it seemed to be the key to switching himself from threatening jounin to non-threatening unskilled chef in Iruka's eyes.

"I... I guess. If I'm not imposing."

"No, no," Kakashi gestured in the vague direction of his apartment with a plastic bag. He started walking that way and Iruka followed. "You're helping me, really. I hate seeing food go to waste, and I have this problem where I tend to forget about leftovers and then they start growing in my fridge and occasionally they steal a few kunai and..." Iruka was looking at him as if he'd turned green and said he liked to wear dresses. He shrugged. Jounin were known for being somewhat insane. "Breakfast can be quite a battle some mornings."

"I can imagine." Was that a smile tugging at the corner of the teacher's lips? Mission cheer Iruka up, underway.

His first thought was to ask Iruka if he was feeling better. That thought was quickly discarded. The last thing Iruka probably wanted was to be reminded of Makitomo. He settled for a safer question.

"How are classes going? Got any more little Naruto's running around?"

Iruka groaned. "Thankfully, no. He's one of a kind, though there is Konohamaru and his friends, but they've started to behave at least a little bit after Naruto talked to them a few months ago."

Kakashi laughed at that. He could just imagine what Naruto must have said to them. "Well, Naruto practically worships you, and Konohamaru worships Naruto so it fits, I guess."

"I almost wish Naruto hadn't spoken to them. Konohamaru's misbehaving was somewhat easier to deal with than walking into the classroom to find thirty-two apples on my desk."

"At least you had a good supply of apples for a while." He tried to picture how many apples that would be... and how they would have stacked that many on a desk.

Iruka's smile turned rueful. "I appreciated the thought, but it was my birthday and they thought that was how old I was."

He winced. "Oh." How in the world had the brats come up with that number? Iruka looked like he was barely out of his teens sometimes.

They'd reached Kakashi's neighborhood, a fairly quiet part of town that housed high-ranking jounin and more than a few ANBU, though only a handful of people knew that. Lights shone in a few windows, but for the most part the buildings were dark, their inhabitants off on missions or simply out having fun while they had the chance.

"This is it."

Kakashi preceded Iruka up the stairs, shifting the bags into one hand as he dug out his keys. A few muttered words disarmed the traps around the door.

"Pardon the mess. I haven't really been around much recently."

"Ah." Iruka toed off his shoes at the entrance and glanced around with obvious interest. The apartment was dark, a bit of light shining through the curtains in his kitchen to make out vague furniture-like shapes.

"Here." Groceries shifted as Kakashi flipped on the light switch and kicked the door closed at the same time. His shoes hit the wall with a dull thud.

"Is there anything I can-" Iruka's words cut off as Kakashi pulled down his mask. He smiled at Iruka on his way into the kitchen. Strangely, Iruka blushed.

"No, just have a seat while I get dinner started." Kakashi's back was to Iruka as he set down the groceries but he could hear Iruka landing on the couch with a soft thud. Half the fun of wearing a mask all the time was the strange reactions he got whenever he went without.

He remembered the fruit as he was emptying one of the bags. Kakashi picked up one of the brown fruit and turned.

"Kiwi?"

The look of surprise on Iruka's face was more than worth the price of dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

Iruka's day had gone from bad to strange. He glanced quickly around the apartment, trying to find something that might help him start up a conversation. There was nothing. Aside from the couch he sat on, the room contained a heavily dented wooden coffee table and two more padded chairs. That was it. No books, no pictures, nothing. Even the walls were plain, still in the basic white the apartment had probably come in. That left Iruka with only one thing to focus on - Kakashi.

"I... um..." Why was Kakashi offering him kiwi? How did Kakashi even know he liked kiwi? But, more importantly... "Why aren't you wearing your mask?"

The jounin smiled at him. He had a really nice smile without that mask. "It is my apartment. Seems a little silly to wear it around the house."

"Oh." That made sense. "I-is... is it okay that I..."

Kakashi blinked at him and rolled the kiwi between hands. "...that you...?" The kiwi sailed briefly into the air before Kakashi caught it again. "Oh!" Kakashi's smile widened. "Is it okay if you see me without the mask?" He started to scratch his head with the kiwi, paused to stare at the kiwi and then shifted it to his other hand. "Yeah, as long as you don't tell Sasuke and Naruto about it, I guess it's okay."

Jounin were a strange lot. "Um... okay."

"Good." Kakashi nodded. "Well, I should go..." He waved his hand towards the kitchen. "Do you want..." Kakashi looked down at the kiwi in his hand then tossed it into the kitchen. It bounced off the wall and landed in the sink. "I'll get you another one."

"Ah... Thank you."

Iruka wondered if Kakashi's offer of dinner and kiwi had anything to do with last night. The jounin had never given him a second glance before yet here he was offering one of Iruka's favorite fruit and cooking him dinner. Maybe it was just pity. From what he'd heard, Kakashi was a nice guy, sort of, lateness and teasing of students aside.

"Do you want something to drink?" Kakashi called from the kitchen. Pots clattered as Kakashi rummaged in his cabinet, one stray pan rolling awkwardly across the floor. It toppled as soon as it hit the living room carpet.

"Yes, please." Iruka shifted on the couch. Should he get up or did Kakashi want him to wait?

"Hmm. I have water and..." The refrigerator door opened and Kakashi stared inside for several minutes, squinting slightly. "...beer."

"Water is fine. Should I-"

"No, I'll get it." Kakashi waved a hand. He pulled a glass out of the cabinet and filled it from a pitcher from the refrigerator. "Here." Kakashi smiled brightly and held out both the glass and a kiwi.

"Thank you." Iruka glanced at the fruit. He took a sip of water and set both aside. Kakashi was back in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot of the stove. The groceries were still spread across the counter, though at least out of the bags. Kakashi seemed to just be using things as he needed them without bothering to put anything away. "Are you sure you don't need a hand with anything? I mean... I could at least help you put away the groceries..."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head with the handle of a large wooden spoon. "Well, if you really want to, I guess."

Iruka was across the room in three strides, relief washing over him at the prospect of doing something useful. The groceries seemed to be sorted in two groups, with almost a full foot of counter space separating the groceries near Kakashi with the ones he'd segregated. The lone group seemed to be standard items - milk, eggs, instant ramen, and the like.

"Um, do you need these?" Iruka pointed at the far group.

Kakashi glanced at each of the items, then down at the paper in front of him. "...No."

"Right. Milk in the fridge?"

At Kakashi's nod, Iruka picked up the container and started to walk around Kakashi. He'd taken two steps towards the fridge when suddenly Kakashi dropped the spoon and turned, grabbing the milk from Iruka's hand.

"Ah... I had better..." Kakashi backed towards the fridge, smiling awkwardly. "...never know how dangerous it might get in there..." He gestured with the milk jug, though Iruka wasn't quite sure what the gesture was supposed to mean. It seemed halfway between throwing and swimming. Kakashi turned quickly. The refrigerator door opened and shut in seconds. The milk was gone from Kakashi's hands.

Iruka bit his lip to keep from laughing. His curiosity was piqued. How bad could it possibly be?

"Could you pass me the eggs?" Kakashi held out a hand, the other holding onto the refrigerator handle securely.

A smile threatened as Iruka passed over the carton. He reminded himself that it was bad to laugh at your host, even if they were being insane.

The door opened and shut again. Kakashi stepped away slowly, his eyes trailing over the ingredients still left on the counter, obviously wondering if anything else needed refrigerating.

"Sugar?" Iruka held up the bag and wondered if there was anything in the cabinets that Kakashi was afraid of as well.

Kakashi pointed to a cabinet in the far corner.

As soon as his back was turned, Iruka let a smile break out across his face.

* * *

Iruka was laughing at him. Well, not laughing aloud, but Kakashi definitely had the sense that he was amusing the teacher. At least it was better than Iruka still being depressed. It had been rather weird dealing with a quiet Iruka last night. He imagined it was something like if Naruto had refused ramen, it was just wrong. He didn't know Iruka all that well, or at all really, but he still knew that last night's Iruka had been wrong.

He was starting to see now why Raidou and the others thought Tsunade was going to send Makitomo out of the village.

"Where do you want the ramen?"

That was a very good question. Where did he usually keep it? The pot on the stove bubbled happily. A couple more minutes until the pasta was done, he imagined. Kakashi toed open the cabinet to the right of the stove. Two packages of instant ramen sat on an otherwise empty shelf.

"Um, I think that's it."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Iruka's lips twitch up in that polite not-smile as he bent to store the recently purchased ramen under the counter. Kakashi smiled and absently stirred the sauce. At least the recipe Toumo had given him was simple enough. Boil pasta, boil the broccoli, mix a few things in a smaller pot then throw everything together. He could handle this.

"I think the sauce is starting to burn."

"What?" Kakashi looked down quickly. He poked the white and green mixture with the spoon. It did look a little brown around the edges.

Iruka was suddenly very close, leaning over the stove right next to Kakashi. His smile when he looked up at Kakashi was brilliant. "I thought you promised not to burn anything."

"Ah, well..."

The spoon was taken from his hand. Iruka scraped the sides of the pan as he stirred the sauce. "Do you have a colander?"

Kakashi glanced between the chuunin pressed against him and the food on the stove. "Um... shouldn't I..."

Iruka blushed suddenly. He was across the room in an instant, hovering at the edge of the kitchen. "I... ah... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have, I'm just used to..."

There was that wrong Iruka from last night, the one that wouldn't meet his eyes. Kakashi smiled as wide as he could and waved a hand. "Nah, it's fine. I would have- well, I did burn it, so it's a good thing you caught it." He wasn't helping. Iruka still looked nervous, like he'd done something wrong. What had cheered Iruka up before? "Ah... I promise not to burn anything a second time."

That earned him a faint smile.

He needed something to distract the chuunin. "Iruka, can you set the table? There's plates up there," he pointed to a cabinet, "and silverware in the drawer below." Iruka didn't say anything as he moved to gather the plateware but he lost a touch of his nervousness.

Kakashi smiled. He wasn't doing too horrible a job cheering Iruka up.

* * *

Iruka stared at the food on his plate. First kiwi and now this. He blamed Toumo. The grocer must have said something. That, or maybe Genma had a hand in it. There was no way Kakashi could have guessed two of his favorite foods on his own.

Kakashi was staring at him.

He averted his eyes and shoved a forkful of pasta in his mouth before he said something stupid. Being here was far too much like a date for his comfort. Though, considering his recent dates, this was actually far more pleasant. Maki... Maki hadn't really liked to go on dates, or do much of anything together really. Looking back, that was probably one of the biggest signs that his relationship had been doomed to fail. Maki was the type that spent most of his time away on missions and most of his time in town in bed.

He was starting to wonder why he'd even liked Maki in the first place.

"Ne, Iruka-sensei..."

Kakashi's voice snapped Iruka from his thoughts. Kakashi's stare made him blush.

"Y-yes, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi twirled his fork between his fingers. His plate looked barely touched. "Just tell me to bugger off if I'm being too personal but... why didn't you ever test to be a jounin?"

Iruka slowly put down his fork. He could feel his blush taking over his face. To a powerful jounin like Kakashi, it must look weird for him to have stayed a chuunin so long. "I... ah... well, I like teaching and I like the children, even if they do drive me mad some days but..." He lifted his eyes slowly from the table, almost afraid of the expression he'd find on Kakashi's face. Wrongly afraid, it seemed. There was no pity there, or censure. Just... curiosity. The truth slipped from his lips accidentally. "I don't like hurting people. I can, when I absolutely have to, but... I don't want to, and I love teaching too much to ever give it up."

"Ah." Kakashi nodded once and said nothing. Iruka waited, half-expecting Kakashi to laugh at him or say he was a weak ninja.

No words came.

After a few minutes passed, they both started to pick at their food. Kakashi seemed distracted. He'd stop every few bites, fork still in mouth or hanging loosely from his fingers, to stare at Iruka before turning back to his food.

"You know," Iruka jumped slightly as Kakashi's voice shattered the silence, "there's nothing wrong with being a chuunin teacher. After all, I figure it's thanks to you that Naruto turned out as good as he did, and there's all those other kids that stumbled out of the Academy with him." Another forkful of pasta plunged into Kakashi's mouth.

"I... thank you." Naruto was, well, Naruto. Iruka hoped he'd had a positive effect on the boy, but Naruto's achievements were Naruto's alone. The talent had been in there all along, Naruto had just needed to learn how to use it.

"And," Kakashi continued, "there's nothing wrong with not wanting to hurt anyone unless you have to. I think the rest of us just forget that sometimes." Kakashi's eye seemed to stare right through him. "Is that why those things keep happening?"

"I... um..." Iruka was at a loss for words. He knew better than try to play dumb, but he also wasn't quite sure he could bring himself to talk about it with someone he was barely even acquainted with. How much did Kakashi know? Had he only heard about Makitomo or had someone told him about the others as well?

From the way Kakashi was staring at him, he wasn't going to be able to get Kakashi to drop the subject.

Iruka sighed and fidgeted with the end of his ponytail. "That's mostly it. Tsunade... Tsunade ordered me to learn how to... well, fight back, I guess, though I already know how to fight I just can't fight someone I care about, which means I just have to stay celibate I guess and..." Iruka glanced over at Kakashi. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this, I mean, you probably don't care and-"

"What if I helped you?"

"What?" The train of Iruka's thoughts derailed with a loud explosion.

Kakashi leaned across the table and smiled widely. "I'll help you. We can practice together. I mean, if you can fight me, you can fight anyone in the village."

Him versus the infamous copy nin. It had to be some kind of joke. "I-no-I... I can't... it... we..." He trailed off into a string of guttural negations.

If anything, Kakashi just smiled wider. "Come on. It'll be fun?"

Jounin really were insane. "F-fun? But-"

"Excellent!" The smile on Kakashi's face looked positively deranged. "Are mornings or evenings better for you?"

"E-evenings..." Why was he answering? He shouldn't be going along with this. He was going to be killed on their first day. Schoolteachers and copy nin absolutely should not be sparring.

"Perfect! I'll meet you after school in two days. Now, how about some kiwi?"

He couldn't argue with Kakashi's smile.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ah! Iruka-sensei, there you are!" An unfamiliar girl leaned against the doorway to Iruka's classroom, breathing heavily. She was young, a chuunin most likely since Iruka knew most of the current genin from the Academy.

"Can I help you?" Iruka tapped the students' homework against the desk, aligning all the papers into a neat pile before sliding them into his satchel.

The girl seemed to catch her breath after a moment. She stepped into the room quickly and held out a folded piece of paper. "Kakashi-san asked me to deliver this to you."

"Oh." Iruka took the paper slowly. Hadn't Kakashi said he was going to meet Iruka personally after class?

The girl saluted sloppily, a slight grin on her face, and left. Iruka unfolded the note.

i_Running late. Meet me here. Kakashi._/i A rough depiction of the village filled the bottom half of the note, though only the major landmarks were noted - the Academy, the memorial stone, and the mountain. There was an X over part of the forest surrounding the village.

"Well, at least I know he thinks enough of me to be late, just like with everyone else," Iruka muttered to himself. He wondered if he had time to stop by his apartment quickly. It was on the way, and he'd been planning on asking Kakashi anyways since he hadn't wanted to bring his equipment to the class. There was no telling what his adorable brats would do if they'd somehow gotten their hands on his weapons.

He left the Academy at a light jog. If he hurried, he wouldn't be too late. A quick jump brought him on level with the edge of the Toumo's shop. He waved briefly at the shopkeeper as he caught the roof ledge in one hand and flipped up onto the rooftop. Iruka took a brief second to get his bearings and then he was off, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. A faint smile crosses his face as he ran. It'd been a long time since he'd had any need to hurry like this. He'd almost forgotten how much fun it could be, with the village spread out below him and the wind rushing across his face.

A running jump had him sailing through the air over the street. It only took a tiny bit of chakra for his feet to find purchase on the side of the railing. He quickly climbed over, letting the chakra fall away as he settled onto solid ground once more. Iruka dug his keys out of his pocket with a smile. One good thing about working with children, he certainly wasn't out of shape.

His bag hit the couch with a light thud as Iruka started tucking the weapons spread out on the table into their respective places. Ninja stars went into two pouches on the back of his belt. Kunai slipped into hidden pockets all over his clothing - up sleeves, inside his vest, into the tops of his boots. Thin filament wire was slipped into a tiny pocket on the inside of his shirt cuff, imperceptible to anyone but him. Smoke bombs were tucked into a large pouch at his right hip, medicine pouches and bandages went into the large pocket on his right leg.

Iruka ran his hands over his clothing and double-checked that everything was in place before locking the apartment door on his way out. Despite the fact that he was about to have his ass handed to him, possibly multiple times, he was actually looking forward to it a bit. It had been a very long time since he'd had a chance to spar with someone above the age of sixteen.

He reached the edge of the forest in minutes, not even half an hour after they'd originally planned on meeting. Hopefully Kakashi was still late. He'd hate to have to make Kakashi wait for him. Maybe he could leave his weapons in the teacher's lounge, sealed in a drawer. There was a chance the kids wouldn't get to them that way, at least not with a teacher watching.

The woods were quiet, not unusual for the area around a ninja village. Aside from a few birds, nothing living tended to stray this close to civilization, though right now even the birds were scarce. Iruka moved quietly towards the general area Kakashi had indicated. He followed what was probably an old deer trail, or maybe even the path Kakashi himself used whenever he came out here to train. The forest grew darker around him as he walked, leaves overhead blocking out the majority of the sun.

Minutes passed in silence. He could no longer see the village, or much beyond the path he was on. In the distance, a raven cawed. Iruka mentally counted his kunai while his fingers tapped in time to his breaths.

There was something in the woods. Iruka scratched his arm and dislodged a kunai into his palm.

He got five more steps down the path before the person moved. Iruka caught a glimpse of green, white, and red moving down from his left. He dodged rather than attacked. They were still within the city limits, so it could be a student or someone passing through. The dagger in the man's hand said he wasn't just passing through. The red and white mask said ANBU.

It didn't take him long to put two and two together. He staggered back a step as the masked figured lashed out. "K-kakashi?"

The man didn't even pause in recognition. Iruka jumped to the side to avoid another slash. Did they have any former ANBU who had become missing-nin? There was the possibility that his opponent wasn't actually ANBU, just wearing the mask. Iruka knew at least seven places that sold similar masks that could be altered, and there were even more such shops during festivals.

Wood chips flew below his feet as the dagger briefly lodged in the tree Iruka had been standing on. He bounced off a tree on the opposite side of the path, sending a kunai sailing towards his attacker before spinning off to another tree. As expected, he missed, but it accomplished his intention of letting the man know he was no longer willing to play. Assuming, of course, that this man didn't actually intend on killing him. He was slowly starting to doubt that assumption, just like he was starting to doubt this was Kakashi.

The dagger almost caught him in the leg. Iruka ran up a tree. His attacker followed, finally seeming to grow serious in trying to hit Iruka. It was obvious the man was holding back, though if this wasn't Kakashi he didn't understand why. A real ANBU wouldn't have given him the chance to defend himself. He might not even have known the ANBU was there before he'd died, though he liked to think he was at least a bit more observant than most.

If this was sparring, it was far deadlier than any Iruka had ever participated in outside of his training for the Chuunin Exams years ago. Iruka dodged again, bare seconds faster than his opponent. He had a choice to make, and quickly. If this was Kakashi testing him, then he didn't want to go all-out to avoid hurting Kakashi. If it wasn't, he had to or he was going to get killed as soon as whoever it was behind the mask decided to stop playing.

If it was Kakashi, he'd fought far deadlier foes than Iruka, and therefore if Iruka did manage to hit him it was because Kakashi let him.

It wasn't much of a decision after all.

Iruka jumped and rolled, discretely gathering twigs in his hands as he fell off the path several feet from his attacker. He kept his lips concealed as he sprang to his feet, the twigs changing into kunai in the shadow of his open vest. His attacker was three steps away. Lunging back with a loud cry, Iruka threw the illusionary kunai in a wide pattern, forcing his attacker back long enough to pull out five real shuriken.

If this was a rogue ANBU attacking him, then he didn't stand a chance on his own, which mean in order to live - game terms or not - he had to make it back to the village. The village which was several yards away through the woods, then the clearing beyond it, then past a couple streets until he could get to someone that could actually help him. And, of course, there was the strange man who just happened to be between Iruka and the way back to the village.

He was going to have to be creative.

Iruka jumped onto the nearest tree and ran up. Predictably, his attacker followed, matching Iruka's pace effortlessly two trees away. He waited until they were nearly to the top, where the branches grew thinnest before he pulled two kunai from the back of his vest and threw, aiming not at the fake ANBU, who dodged predictably, but at the branches around him. The ANBU leaped and Iruka fell, letting gravity carry him out of close range. Wood fell with him. Iruka brushed one branch with his fingertips and painted it with his chakra, marking it for future reference.

His attacker was waiting for him below, the sharp metal of two kunai - probably Iruka's own - flying up to meet him. He jumped back towards his original position and threw the branch in his hand, followed by five more shuriken. The ANBU dodged them all, letting the branch sail back towards the village as Iruka had intended. He pulled a handful of smoke bombs from the pouch and threw them, covering the entire path with smoke.

Quickly, Iruka changed his trajectory by bouncing off the tree next to him, pushing himself towards the village. Jutsu rolled nearly-silently from his lips as he switched places with the branch and switched their appearances simultaneously.

Flying through the air as a branch reminded him of running through the village, like he was the single spot of calm amidst the chaos around him.

Then the tree branch in front of him morphed into an arm holding a dagger and he dropped unexpectedly, caught not by the blade but by the crook of his attacker's arm applied directly to his stomach. Iruka hit the forest floor gasping for breath. The dagger slid into its sheath and Kakashi raised his mask as he squatted next to Iruka.

"Not bad for someone who almost let a rogue ninja murder him." Kakashi's lips smiled but his eyes nearly glared at him in displeasure. "At least now I know where Naruto learned that particular trick."

He didn't have to ask what trick. "I knew it was you." It wasn't a good excuse, but it was all he had. And, he'd been right, even if he'd had his doubts. No need to mention those to Kakashi, however.

"The whole time?" Kakashi was calling his bluff.

Iruka shrugged. He didn't think Kakashi would want to hear his logic, that if Iruka had been fighting someone actually trying to kill him, he'd have been dead long ago.

"You were holding back," Kakashi accused.

"So were you."

"Yes, well..." Kakashi's words died off with a glare. Kakashi stared at him for a minute before offering his hand. "Come on."

Iruka let Kakashi pull him to his feet. His chest hurt, but not enough to cause more than a minor distraction. He'd functioned with far worse before.

"I should probably be grateful that you fought back at all," Kakashi groused as he moved along the path, picking up fallen weapons. His smile was slowly changing into an angry frown. "Hell, I wonder, if I'd come at you looking like one of your exes, would you have just let me kill you on the spot?"

"Hey!" Iruka gripped the kunai he'd just plucked from a tree trunk tightly. "I'm not fucking suicidal."

Kakashi turned quickly, both eyes blazing. Iruka took an involuntary step back. Here was the ANBU hiding behind Kakashi's smiling face. "Then why the fuck did you-" Kakashi's mouth snapped shut, and suddenly he was back to normal, though still obviously annoyed. "I'm sorry." The apology sounded strained, but it was more than Iruka ever would have expected. "I shouldn't have said that."

Iruka kept his eyes on Kakashi as he bent to pick up two of his shuriken. Kakashi's words had stung, mostly because they pointed out flaws in himself that he'd been trying to ignore for years. He turned away from Kakashi to scan the nearby brush, trying to see where the other three from this set had landed.

"No," Iruka admitted softly, "you're right. Mostly. The type like Maki... well, give Maki another week or two, and I wouldn't have gone down without a fight. When I fall for a guy, I fall hard, but even then, they only get one chance to knock me around before I wise up. There's never a second time." He spotted two shuriken under a bush. As he squatted down, he saw the third hiding in the leaves. "But the other type, the ones where we just didn't click so we mutually called it quits..." Iruka glanced over at Kakashi and almost forgot what he'd been about to say.

Kakashi was watching him intently, not even bothering to look for fallen weapons anymore. And the expression on Kakashi's face... was something Iruka didn't want to think about right now, because it was too close to pity and something else. He wasn't going to think about it.

"If it was one of them," Iruka forced himself to continue, "or even one of my former students or a friend, like Genma or..." His eyes seemed drawn back to the silent jounin. "...you... If any of them seriously tried to kill me, I'd be dead before my mind even finished working through the fact that they'd drawn a weapon on me. And I don't think I could fight back, because the thought of hurting someone I care about is far worse to me than the thought of being physically hurt myself."

"And that's why we're here." Kakashi hung his mask on a branch off to the side of the path. "Now, you've got five shuriken stuck in trees over there," Kakashi pointed, "and four kunai there and there." A slow smile grew on Kakashi's face. Iruka had a feeling he wasn't going to like what Kakashi was about to say. "Gather them up and then we'll start again, and we're not stopping until either you scratch me or it gets too dark to see."

Iruka resisted the urge to groan. This was karmic revenge for all the times he'd kept his students practicing the same drills over and over until they got them right. He plucked the first of the shuriken from the tree Kakashi had indicated.

"Oh," Kakashi's voice carried through the woods, "that trick with the twigs was cute, but from now on, if you're trying to hit me with anything, it had better be a real weapon."

Iruka did groan then, inside his head at least. This was going to be a long evening.


	5. Chapter 5

Iruka sat down carefully and tried to hide the wince that followed. Genma's eyes narrowed.

"I thought you weren't seeing anyone." The threat in Genma's voice was probably justified.

"I'm not. I was with Kakashi last night."

Judging from Genma's growing frown, that was probably not the right thing to say.

"Training," he added quickly and glanced around the room to make sure Kakashi wasn't anywhere nearby in case he misspoke again. Genma had a tendency to be rather explosive when he got angry. "We were fighting until sundown out in the forest. He actually expected me to be able to hit him. Me! Versus the infamous Copy Nin." After last night he sorely wished he could hit Kakashi. Nothing would be more satisfying right now that a solid punch, right in Kakashi's jaw, though he'd need the element of surprise to pull that off.

At least the budding attraction he'd held for Kakashi was definitely squashed. Mostly. Kakashi was possibly the most infuriating person he knew, aside from Naruto. Another torturous night of fighting until sundown and any lingering attraction to Kakashi would be squashed. Conveniently, their next scheduled training session was only three days away. Kakashi had better not be late this time.

"You give yourself far too little credit, Iruka. You're a good fighter."

Iruka glared. His bout with Kakashi had proven just how good – or not - he was. "I haven't fought anyone over the age of sixteen since the Chuunin exams, when I was sixteen."

"You fought Mizuki."

Iruka frowned and stared at the table. In the back of his mind he could still hear Mizuki's voice, taunting Naruto, trying to get the scroll from him. "And we all know how that ended," he drawled out slowly. That battle had been one of his greatest failures. Instead of him saving Naruto, he'd been saved by the kid. A twelve year old had taken down someone he'd barely managed to scratch.

No wonder Tsunade thought he couldn't take care of himself.

Genma clapped him on the back, unfortunately hitting one of the spots where Iruka had impacted with a tree last night. "Well, look at it this way, you've got Kakashi training you. If you can hit him, you can hit any of us."

"That's a big 'if' there."

"At least it's something worth trying for."

Iruka sighed. "Yeah, at least I'm trying."

* * *

Kakashi stared at the bowl of kiwi on his counter. They didn't go bad this fast, did they? He'd bought them for Iruka, but there'd been leftovers and now he was stuck with a bowl of kiwi. Maybe he could give them to Iruka, sort of as an apology for pushing him so hard last night. Would Iruka take that wrong? It was training. It was supposed to be hard. He probably should apologize for the things he said, though. That'd been... mean. True, but still mean. Honestly, twigs?

If he'd been from a rival village or a missing nin or someone actually trying to kill Iruka, the chuunin wouldn't have lasted five minutes. Hell, Iruka probably wouldn't even have known he was being attacked before he died. Iruka couldn't have known it was Kakashi the whole time, and yet he kept pulling those stupid tricks and running around to avoid attacking. To be fair, those tricks might have worked on other opponents. The fact that Naruto survived battle after battle was somewhat testament to that. Not every enemy was as strong as Kakashi. Scratch that. Few enemies were as strong as Kakashi.

Against an unfamiliar chuunin, Iruka would have shined. Against a jounin, he might have survived. It was those familiar ninja that worried Kakashi a little, though the fact that he was worrying at all was somewhat disturbing.

What was going on with him recently? Buying kiwi and training chuunin schoolteachers. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this social with someone he barely knew. Admittedly they did have common friends, which made Iruka a friend by extension. And it was kind of nice talking to someone so different from the ninja he normally associated with. And the few bites he'd had of the kiwi after Iruka had insisted he try it were good.

Kakashi glared at the bowl of kiwi. It didn't take a genius to figure out where his thoughts were taking him.

"Shit." The word echoed in his empty apartment.

With one last angry glance at the kiwi, Kakashi grabbed a bag.

* * *

It shouldn't be this hard to find pens. Unfortunately, he needed red pens and the storage closet at school was empty, as it usually was less than five minutes after being stocked. He didn't quite feel like rummaging through another teacher's desk. He knew the kinds of traps they used and Dai-sensei was particularly mean. He probably had all the red pens.

Iruka had a back-up supplier. There was a shop, nearly on the edge of the village on the complete opposite side as the Academy that stocked red pens. Said shop was currently closed, like most stores after sundown.

"This is what happens when I let Genma talk me into ramen before shopping," Iruka muttered to himself as he riffled through the selection of pens at the third convenience store he'd been to that night. He wasn't even really sure what part of town he was in, but he had grading to do tonight and that required red.

Would it really be that unprofessional to use blue?

Konohamaru was in his class. He needed red.

"Need help finding something?"

Iruka blushed. He must look a little crazy, going through every stack of pens on the shelf. Maybe he should have just asked. He straightened slowly and turned.

Okay, he definitely should have asked if this was the kind of help he was going to get. He smiled slightly, his blush already deepening as he looked over at the rather handsome man standing next to him. Long blonde hair pulled back in a bun, stunning blue eyes, and a rather muscular physique hidden behind a plain white shirt and khakis. The stranger smiled at him.

"Looking for something in particular?"

"Uh-um-well..." Yes, Iruka, great time to develop a stutter. He laughed nervously. "I was trying to find a red pen, actually."

"I don't think they carry those here, but..." The man picked a thin orange box off the shelf. "...would a red pencil work?"

Colored pencils. He should have thought of that.

"Y-yes, thank you." Iruka accepted the box from the stranger and grabbed a second just in case. His gaze travelled over the blonde again. He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. It was a bad idea and Genma would yell at him and Kakashi... Kakashi was a bastard who'd left him bruised in twelve places and in need of a new jacket. "Um... do you work here?"

The man laughed softly and reddened slightly. "Truthfully, no, and you're probably thinking I'm a little weird for approaching you like that, but honestly... I just wanted an excuse to talk to you."

Iruka's blush was not going away any time soon. "I... thank you. For your help, and..."

The stranger smiled brightly. Iruka pushed the part of his brain that kept telling him how bad an idea this was out a proverbial window.

"I-I'm Iruka, by the way."

"Yukio." The blonde glanced down at his watch. "I don't suppose you'd like to go grab a cup of coffee? I know a place nearby that stays open pretty late."

It was getting rather dark out. He had papers he should be grading. Iruka looked down at the colored pencils in his hands and then at Yukio. He really shouldn't.

"A-alright. Though... I can't stay too long. I have papers to grade. Hence the red pens."

Yukio winked. "I guessed. Well, it was a near tie between schoolteacher and editor, but I was close." He half-bowed and gestured towards the check-out counter. "Let us not tarry then, dear schoolteacher. Coffee awaits."

Iruka laughed out-loud as he was herded towards the counter. He could tell this was going to be an interesting night.

* * *

Iruka was still laughing, though quietly this time, as he finally made it back to his apartment, two hours later than he expected to be home. As he climbed the steps up to his apartment, he couldn't help but replay parts of his conversation with Yukio. The jounin Yukio, he'd learned, who loved comedy and poetry and was very good at making Iruka smile. So good that Iruka hadn't even hesitated before agreeing to meet for coffee again over the weekend.

He paused as he pulled his keys from his pocket. There was a plastic bag half-full of kiwi hanging from his doorknob. Iruka lifted one handle and glanced inside. No note, though he had a fairly good idea who had left them here. He wasn't quite sure why. Did Kakashi just not want to keep them? He hadn't really struck Iruka as the fresh-fruit kind of guy, though that brought up the question of why Kakashi had bought kiwi in the first place if he wasn't going to eat them.

Pulling the bag off the doorknob, Iruka quickly unlocked the door and headed inside. It was late, and he had papers to grade. The kiwi went on the counter, the colored pencils on the coffee table along with his satchel. He walked around the living room, flicking on lights as he went, before heading into the bedroom. His uniform jacket, brand new as of this morning, was carefully folded over the back of his chair. The rest of his clothes ended up in the laundry basket as he changed into his pajamas - a simple oversized white t-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants.

His bare feet padded quietly along the wood floor as he headed back into the living room, pointedly ignoring the kunai marks in the bedroom door. He sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled out his students' papers. With a red pencil in hand, Iruka started to read the first essay.

His eyes kept wandering away from the paper. Halfway through, Iruka finally gave up with a sigh. He stood and crossed the room. Minutes later, he returned to his grading with a plate, a knife, and a bowl of kiwi.


	6. Chapter 6

Iruka's back hit the tree hard. He let himself fall to his knees and rolled out of the way of the incoming kunai. His clothes were damp with sweat. Nothing new. He was covered in dirt, with twigs and leaves stuck in his hair and to his shoes. Also, not new. He was bruised, but not bleeding. That was new.

The air tingled. Iruka had yet to find words for this sensation. He was used to scenting blood on the air, as most ninja were. This was similar, an almost preternatural sense of... something, but instead of copper the scent of pine pricked his nose, sending a signal to his muscles even before the chakra had finished gathering. He was halfway across the clearing before Kakashi even unleashed the jutsu, the thin bursts of water splashing off the trees behind him.

At least he was getting something out of the training besides a good workout. Was this what Kakashi felt like when he used his Sharingan? Obviously, with Kakashi it would be more pronounced, more than just a vague whisper of unseen energy, but to Iruka it felt like he'd taken a huge step forward. He felt connected.

There was that pine scent again, just before the tree line blurred and Kakashi appeared in front of him. Katana met katana, their blades pressed together for a brief moment before Iruka jumped away. He knew his strengths, and going hand-to-hand against Kakashi was not one of them. A smoke bomb covered his escape, as well as concealing the flash of gestures that would have given away his next move.

Iruka kept his eyes focused on the cloud of smoke as his foot landed on a branch. He waited long enough to watch Kakashi leap clear of the black smoke before he jumped backwards. Kakashi landed on the same branch Iruka had just vacated, exactly as predicted. His lungs were filled with the scent of pine.

One second, Kakashi was tensing to jump after Iruka, weapon in hand, about to land the mock-fatal hit that would end today's training. Branches moved before he could, wrapping around his feet, his wrists, and his waist, then twining around the caught limbs until Kakashi was effectively immobile.

Iruka crouched opposite Kakashi, and waited.

"Cute trick." Kakashi smiled, though Iruka could only tell by the way the skin around his visible eye relaxed and the color of his iris lightened. The branches receded on their own. "Your win, today."

Iruka frowned. "But you got out of it. You could have continued attacking me."

Kakashi brushed off his sleeves and started down the tree trunk like it was one of the open streets of Konoha. "Correct, but if you were fighting someone other than me, you'd have bought yourself time to finish them off or run to safety, depending on your preference."

"But-"

"Do you want to keep going?" Kakashi was still smiling.

Iruka glanced up at the darkening sky and mentally calculated how far they'd wandered from the village. He still had two more questions to write for the test tomorrow, and he'd offered to cover for Jouma in the early morning shift at the Mission Room.

"No, not really."

"Good. Neither do I."

It didn't take long to gather their weapons. After the first few fights, Iruka had given up on using thrown weapons as anything more than an occasional distraction, relying instead on his increasingly growing arsenal of jutsu. Like the trick with the ensnaring branches, Iruka found himself favoring jutsu that held, distracted, or misdirected enemies. He had scrolls worth of reading material sitting in his apartment that he hadn't yet found time to go through, and most of them had been collecting a large amount of dust until Iruka had unearthed them. Not surprising, really, considering the fondness most ninja had for jutsu that killed or maimed, often in spectacular or flashy ways.

That just made things easier for Iruka. The smaller jutsu were often over-looked, and thus unexpected, sometimes even unheard of. Smaller jutsu also used less chakra, thus allowing Iruka to use more jutsu with his limited resources, or combine jutsu into unique effects. They ought to be teaching this stuff in the Academy. Iruka had a meeting with Tsunade at the end of the week to discuss just that.

"You've come a long way."

Iruka jumped slightly. He'd almost forgotten that Kakashi was with him. A faint smile spread over his face. "Thanks."

Kakashi passed him on the trail. "I think next week we'll start practicing on top of the mountain."

Iruka froze. But that meant...

"There aren't any trees up there. You're gonna need some new tricks."

Kakashi raised one hand in a brief, backwards wave before disappearing off into the trees.

The mountain. There was nothing on the mountain, just rocks, maybe a few twigs worth of scrub. One word came to mind.

"Fuck."

* * *

"Hey."

The familiar voice made Iruka pause. He smiled without thinking. "Yukio." How long had it been since the sound of someone's voice had made his day instantly better? With Maki... well, it'd been a while.

Yukio smiled brightly as he joined Iruka's side, his hand briefly lighting on Iruka's lower back before flitting away.

Iruka's day just got a lot better.

"I probably shouldn't ask, but rough day with the kids?" Yukio gestured to Iruka's clothing.

Too bad there wasn't a jutsu to mend ripped and dirty clothing. Iruka blushed and scratched some of the dirt off his clothing. "No, the kids were merciful today, for a change. I was actually training..." He belatedly realized the types of questions that statement opened up. He forced his smile wider, added a hint of self-deprecation. "...trying to get back in shape."

Yukio's gaze trailed over Iruka again. "I like your current shape."

He didn't have to fake the darkening of his blush. "T-thanks."

"I don't suppose you've eaten yet?"

"No, not yet." He'd meant to grab something before meeting Kakashi, but then one of his students had caught him after class. "I don't suppose that was an invitation?"

"You caught me. Any preference? I hear the Ichiraku's pretty popular."

It took a lot to keep a sudden frown from showing on his face. Ichiraku was bad. Ichiraku meant people who knew him, who knew his... situation. As much as he knew he could take care of himself, he knew Genma and the others wouldn't see it that way. They'd say it was too soon, that he was taking things too fast.

It was dinner. The second date, sort of, and they hadn't even held hands. How bad could it be?

"I'm actually not that fond of ramen," he lied with a smile. "How about Sunomi's? It's in the south quadrant." And about as far as they could get from Iruka's normal hang-outs as they could get without being too suspicious about it.

"Sounds great."

Yukio's hand rested on Iruka's lower back and he forgot about what his friends would say.

* * *

The door slammed against the wall far louder than Iruka would have liked. He hoped his neighbor Hachiouji was out tonight. Yukio kicked the door shut behind them before pushing Iruka against it, his hands quickly busying themselves with untucking Iruka's shirt. He kissed back, one arm around Yukio's shoulders, the other reaching down blindly to fumble with the lock.

As they stumbled towards the bedroom, practically inhaling each other's tongues, Iruka briefly considered that this might be a bad idea. Maybe. But good idea or not, right now, he wanted it, and Yukio's hands and mouth were doing a very thorough job of convincing him that this was a good idea.

They left a trail of clothing behind them. Iruka couldn't stop smiling.

* * *

Kakashi sat on the rooftop and waited, both eyes uncovered. He wasn't being perverted, at least not intentionally. He hadn't come here to spy. Well, in a way, he had, but not like this. He'd come by to check on Iruka, which he had. Iruka was at home, and in bed, which he'd kind of expected at this late an hour. What he hadn't expected was that Iruka wouldn't be alone.

There was no reason, really, for him to be here. Surreptitiously, he'd come to make sure Iruka hadn't been injured during their training early, like he did every week after training. But he already knew exactly how many of his punches and kicks had contacted, and his sword had sliced nothing but clothing. He knew that, and yet he came anyways. Because, although he would never admit it, not even under Ibiki's harshest torture, he worried. Just a little. Which was completely understandable, considering the difference in the level of their abilities, and it was entirely possible that Kakashi could have hurt Iruka accidentally without even being aware of it.

Except he hadn't, because as much as Kakashi was trained to kill, he was trained to kill effectively with full consciousness. He didn't use his power, any of it, absentmindedly. He didn't hurt people unintentionally. Which meant Iruka was fine, and Kakashi's initial assessment of Iruka's injuries – just a few bruises – was accurate, and there was absolutely no reason for him to be here.

And yet he was. Here. Now. Watching.

He should leave. The main event was obviously over. Just two people lying in bed. Together. Very close together. The energy levels in the room left no mistake about what had happened, and not very long ago. If he'd been a few minutes earlier...

What would he have done? Would he have watched Iruka being taken? Would he have barged in and demanded to know just who dared touch Iruka? He couldn't tell who was in there now. Not someone he was familiar with, which meant it could be anyone who'd made jounin after him or any of the lower ranks. In other words, at least half the village. But it was a ninja, no doubting that, and possibly a very skilled one.

The childish part of him considered telling Genma. That would put an end to this budding relationship. It hadn't even been two months since Iruka's break-up with Makitomo, so surely the sensei needed more time... But telling Genma meant telling how he'd come across such information and he wasn't quite certain that Genma would take too kindly to Kakashi's spying, well intentioned or otherwise.

The man in Iruka's bed sat up slightly. Iruka continued sleeping, undisturbed. The man's head turned and he stared, through the wall, directly at where Kakashi sat. Kakashi waited. Seconds passed and then the man shifted, lying back down next to Iruka with what Kakashi could only imagine was a possessive embrace.

That's what Kakashi would have done, if he were in the stranger's place. Well, that and go kill the bastard that was spying on his Iruka. But Iruka wasn't his and he was the one intruding.

So much for being inconspicuous.

A quick, backwards jump took him to the next building. He stared towards Iruka's apartment one last time before turning and heading home. He had better things to do that chase after chuunin schoolteachers, particularly ones that were already attached.


	7. Chapter 7

It was like they'd started all over again. Any progress Iruka had made in the forest had been lost, wiped away by a single change in location. The jutsu he'd found only worked if there was something to use as a distraction, something living to manipulate or hide behind or masquerade as. Up here, on the bare rock above the former Hokages' heads, it was just the two of them and bare rock. There were a few things he could have done with the dust – use it as a smoke screen, create doubles, form things to hide behind – but Kakashi wasn't giving him time enough to even gather his chakra.

He missed the tress. At least wood had a little give, slight as it was. Rock was less forgiving.

Iruka's back smacked into stone – that would bruise – and he rolled, moving out of the way of Kakashi's next attack. More than their location seemed to have changed, though the change in Kakashi was less obvious. He probably wouldn't have noticed anything was different weeks ago, before they'd started training together, but he'd gotten to know Kakashi. There was something different. He could feel it in Kakashi's punches, saw it in the blank expression on Kakashi's face. Kakashi was still cordial, still polite and friendly, but it was somehow less than what they'd had.

Maybe Kakashi knew about Yukio. He wasn't sure how Kakashi would have found out, or why Kakashi even cared unless he'd been talking to Genma and Anko too much. But, this was a village full of ninja. Privacy was only an illusion, only something one had when their friends – or enemies – had better things to do with their time than spy. Besides, if he knew, wouldn't he say something? Maybe it wasn't him. The life of a ninja – an active one, frequently sent out on missions – had its ups and downs. There were a number of other reasons why Kakashi would be acting differently.

That didn't stop Iruka from feeling guilty.

He turned a fraction too slow as he dodged a punch. Kakashi's foot caught him in the side, sending him tumbling across the ground once more. Rocks dug into his skin. He could still feel them, even after he'd finally come to a stop. It was hard to force himself to his feet again, to keep fighting. Iruka opened his eyes and watched Kakashi stepping forward, fist balled. Night had fallen unnoticed. He still had exams to grade.

"Stop," Iruka said.

Kakashi did, his face blank.

Iruka groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. "Oh, that hurts."

"Learn to dodge better and it won't."

Iruka cast a startled glance at Kakashi. He had his mask up, hiding whatever expression had accompanied his words. Iruka swallowed the retort that first came to mind. "Y-yeah," he said instead, "yeah, I'm working on that."

"Not hard enough."

At first Iruka thought he'd imagined it. The words had been muttered, sounding almost disconnected from Kakashi's mouth. He wasn't being paranoid – Kakashi actually was mad at him for something. Kakashi's body was tense, his arms crossed.

"Sorry." It was the only thing he could think to say that wouldn't lead to a full-blown argument.

"Don't be," Kakashi said, and for a brief second Iruka thought he was going to apologize. He was staring out over Konoha, barely keeping Iruka in the corner of his eye. "Just try harder. We've been at this for weeks already and you can barely land a punch. We've both got better things to do with our time. Unless, of course, you enjoy people smacking you around."

Heat rushed through Iruka's body, pooling in his face and leaving the rest of his body chilled. Kakashi knew. He had to. "I..." What should he say? Was there even anything he could say in his own defense? He wasn't ready to be dating again, not really, but he liked Yukio, he really did. He might even be in love with him, maybe.

Kakashi turned before Iruka could answer, leaving Iruka to stare at Kakashi's back. "I'll contact you about our next session by the end of the week." He was gone in a puff of smoke.

Iruka didn't move for several minutes, staring at the spot Kakashi had just vacated. He couldn't bring himself to blame Kakashi for what he'd said. It was mean-spirited, spiteful, rude, but there was truth to it. He wasn't trying, not as hard as he should be. While he didn't think Yukio was going to turn out like the others, he'd said the same thing before and seen it all go wrong, so if he wanted this relationship to have a happy ending – or at least not a painful ending – he needed to learn to fight back.

Slowly, Iruka turned away from the mountain top and started down the path back to the village. He wanted his relationship with Yukio to work, he really did, and if he was going to make it work then he needed to put some real effort into getting better, outside of these meetings.

Iruka sighed. There were exams at home that needed marked and then he had rolls upon rolls of scrolls to master. He doubted he was going to get much sleep this week.

* * *

Kakashi frowned behind his mask as an unfamiliar blonde sat next to him at the ramen stand, a wide smile on his angular face. He kept his eyes on his bowl and pretended not to notice the stranger.

"Good evening, Hatake-san." The stranger's voice sounded like oil, smooth and greasy. There was something about this man that Kakashi didn't like.

"Do I know you?"

"No," the man answered, "but we both know Iruka."

Iruka. The way the man said the name told Kakashi everything he needed to know. It also made Kakashi want to pull a kunai and plant it in the man's throat. He didn't, but he couldn't stop his hand from clenching around his chopsticks. They'd work as a weapon well enough if he really needed.

"Ah. So you're the man he's seeing."

The stranger's smile widened. "Yes. Mishima Yukio." He held out his hand. Kakashi didn't take it. After a minute, Yukio let his hand drop.

Kakashi made a mental note to find out everything there was to know about this man. He had a few friends still in ANBU who owed him favors. Some of them might even do it for free if he explained the circumstances.

"I hear you're teaching Iruka how to fight."

"He already knows how to fight," Kakashi answered automatically. It was true. Iruka knew a lot about fighting, more than some jounin. He had to in order to train the village youth. Knowledge wasn't Iruka's problem, it was action.

"Still, it's awfully nice of you to help him. I'm sure he's learning a lot from the infamous Hatake Kakashi." Yukio leaned forward slightly. "A teacher's defenses have to be sharp. After all, it's a rather dangerous profession."

Kakashi stiffened. "What do you mean?" He shifted the chopsticks in his hand to a better grip.

Yukio's laugh sounded cold, hollow. "Have you ever been around small children when they're just learning to throw shuriken or a kunai? That's not a profession I envy."

He relaxed the barest of fractions. "Is that all?"

Yukio's smile never faltered. "What other danger could there be? He's just a schoolteacher. An incredibly cute one, but schoolteacher nonetheless." Yukio stood. "Well, I just wanted to say hello. I'll give Iruka your regards when I see him later tonight."

It took most of Kakashi's self control to let Yukio walk away, when every nerve in his body was screaming to kill this man, kill him now. Aside from a vague sense of unease and more jealousy than he really wanted to admit to, he had no reason to suspect Yukio of anything. Maybe it was just jealousy, though that was the first time that Kakashi had actually admitted the emotion to himself.

He wanted Iruka, had wanted him since he'd sat behind Kakashi on the couch while Kakashi had been playing poker, maybe even before that. It was more than just jealousy. He knew they'd work well together. They already did work well together but he wanted more than that, he wanted closeness, contact. He wanted Iruka to want him.

If Yukio turned out like Makitomo, like all of Iruka's other failed relationships, Kakashi knew he was going to blame himself. He could stop it now, before it got that far.

Kakashi stood, tossing a few coins on the table to cover his meal. He had a friend to see and then after that... after that, he needed to talk to Iruka.

* * *

The knock on the door wasn't unexpected, though the person that appeared on the other side of the door was.

Iruka stepped aside quickly and held the door open for his guest. "Kakashi. What..." Questions flew through his head. He wasn't sure which he should ask first.

Kakashi waved a quick greeting as he stepped inside. "Hi." He toed off his shoes and moved past Iruka, checking each of the rooms of Iruka's apartment methodically, like he expected someone else to be here.

Yukio was supposed to be coming over tonight. Iruka wasn't sure he wanted to know how Kakashi had found out, assuming that was who Kakashi was looking for.

He locked the door out of habit and followed Kakashi into the living room. Should he offer Kakashi something to eat? It was late, well past dinner time, so he doubted Kakashi was hungry, but he felt like he should offer something, just to be a good host.

Curiosity won over politeness. "Is something wrong?" Something was off with Kakashi. He seemed odder than usual which, given the jounin's usual state, was saying something. He kept glancing around, shifting from foot to foot.

Kakashi's eyes – both of them, Iruka only now realized that the Sharingan was uncovered – focused on Iruka as Kakashi pulled his mask down. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Kakashi paused for a moment and shifted on his feet, one foot shuffling slightly towards Iruka. "But, I want you to stop seeing Yukio."

Part of Iruka had been expecting this, or at least expecting some sort of confrontation, but he had to wonder how Kakashi knew Yukio's name. Had Kakashi met Yukio? Did he know him from missions or had he just seen Yukio and Iruka together? "Why?"

"I don't like him." Kakashi's voice lacked emotion.

"Kakashi..." He knew he should defend Yukio but the words stuck in his throat. Yukio was perfect, almost everything Iruka liked in a guy. He'd learned long ago that perfect never was. Maki had been perfect, in the beginning. "Why?" He repeated.

Kakashi stepped towards him. Iruka reflexively started to back up, to give Kakashi space, but an arm around his waist stopped him. The arm pulled Iruka closer, into an unexpected kiss. Unexpected, but not unpleasant. His hand rose to press against Kakashi's chest. For a second he was about to push Kakashi away but his hand wouldn't move. Iruka's eyes closed as Kakashi's arm tightened around his waist.

He didn't think he could move away. He didn't want to move, but he knew he should. This was wrong. It felt too good to stop. Kakashi's tongue worked its way past Iruka's lips and moved slowly against the roof of Iruka's mouth. At some point, Iruka's arms had wound around Kakashi's neck, leaving the barest fraction of space between their bodies. Neither of them made any move towards stopping.

Kakashi was the first to pull away, their lips parting hesitantly, leaving just enough room for each of them to gasp in a quick breath, lips brushing, before Kakashi's mouth was back over his own. They moved. Kakashi led, shuffling Iruka backwards until his back hit the wall. The bedroom door stood tantalizingly open not far to Iruka's left.

Kakashi's hands shifted, moving down Iruka's body, pressing against his clothing. They paused for a long moment to cover his ass. Fingers dug lightly into his flesh, squeezing, kneading, and then moving on. Knees pressed between Iruka's legs. Kakashi's hands lifted him as they slid down, pulling Iruka's legs up around Kakashi's waist. Something hard pressed against Iruka, between his hips.

Iruka groaned into Kakashi's mouth as the jounin ground his hips against Iruka.

He needed to stop. Yukio... he was dating Yukio and this was bad, very bad but he couldn't bring himself to let go. He should tell Kakashi to stop but instead he was rocking, shifting against the wall and into Kakashi's hands, moving with the hard press of Kakashi's hips. This wasn't like him. He was faithful, almost to a fault, and while he had been accused of cheating by several of his previous boyfriends, this was the first time it was actually true. He felt horrible and wonderful all at the same time.

Kakashi stepped away from the wall, pulling Iruka with him. For a brief second Iruka was afraid Kakashi was going to drop him but the jounin barely strained under Iruka's weight. They moved through Iruka's apartment, going from the dimly lit living room to somewhere darker. The mattress dipped beneath them as Kakashi sat down, his arm back around Iruka's waist to keep him from falling. Iruka reached forward first, peeling off Kakashi's jacket and tossing it behind him.

They moved together, rolling to the side until Iruka was on his back, never breaking their kiss. Skin was slowly revealed to eager hands and explored by equally eager lips. Any remaining thoughts of Yukio were chased away by a talented tongue. This was wrong and right and every shade between, but Iruka couldn't bring himself to care.

He liked Yukio, might have even loved him in time, but this was Kakashi. Kakashi, who brought him kiwi and taught him to be a better fighter and trained Iruka's precious students and was a mentor to Naruto and played poker with Iruka's friends. Kakashi, who might get mad but would never hurt him. Kakashi, who tasted like miso and ramen, and fit against Iruka like he belonged there.

Iruka broke the kiss with a touch of regret and sat up, pushing Kakashi down as he moved. He shifted to straddle Kakashi's hips. His breath came erratically, escaping in loud pants as he reached into the drawer in his bed side table, moaning as Kakashi's fingers traced over the curve of his ass, distracting him. He ripped the condom package open with his teeth. Kakashi watched, both eyes half-lidded and intent, fixated on Iruka as he rolled the rubber down over Kakashi's thick erection. He squeezed a small measure of lube onto his fingers and left the tube uncapped on the table.

Kakashi held Iruka by the hips, steadying Iruka as he rose up onto his knees and slipped slick fingers inside of himself as quickly as he could. If he had more time, he would have been tempted to make more of a production of it – to tease Kakashi, to urge Kakashi's fingers in with his own, or to take Kakashi's erection into his mouth. He didn't have the patience for that now, but he was hoping he would later. He wanted there to be a later.

He wiped his fingers on the side of the bed sheet before grasping Kakashi's biceps. A loud moan escaped his lips as he lowered himself onto Kakashi, shivering as Kakashi inched inside of him, stretching him, filling him. It felt so good. From the look on Kakashi's face, he felt the same. Kakashi's eyes hungrily followed Iruka's every move, as if the mere sight of him was an aphrodisiac.

Iruka paused once he was fully seated and watched Kakashi watch him. It was hard to stay still when all he wanted to do was feel Kakashi moving inside of him, and he could tell the lack of motion was testing Kakashi's patience as well. Kakashi controlled himself well, at least at first. His hips stayed flat on the bed, his fingers tight on Iruka's hips but not encouraging any movement. Seconds passed as he watched Kakashi's patience slowly slip.

The patience broke.

Kakashi lifted him by the hips. Iruka moved with him, letting Kakashi control the movement. Kakashi's hips slammed up as Kakashi pulled Iruka down, hard, forcing another obscene moan from Iruka's lips. This was better than perfect, not gentle but certainly not unpleasant. Iruka tried to quicken the pace and suddenly they were fighting for control, fighting for the same end. Neither of them could move fast enough. Iruka barely lifted himself up on his knees before Kakashi pulled him down again.

It was everything he needed and not enough.

Apparently Kakashi felt the same. He grabbed Iruka by the arm and pulled, rolling them until Iruka was once more on his back. Kakashi leaned over him, staring for a second before closing the gap between them and locking his mouth onto Iruka's. Arms moved under his knees. Iruka's hips were lifted from the mattress as Kakashi sat up and leaned forward for another kiss. Kakashi thrust inside at a new angle and suddenly it was enough.

Iruka shouted into Kakashi's mouth as he came, his body arching up against Kakashi's. He was going to be feeling that for days, possibly longer since Kakashi showed no sign of slowing down. Kakashi leaned back, pushing Iruka's legs up until they were hooked over Kakashi's shoulder. Moans filled the room. Iruka was pleased to note he wasn't the only one making noise, though he was certainly responsible for most of the volume. He twisted his fingers in the sheets and held tightly.

After what seemed like an eternity of sharp thrusts that sent jags of pleasure straight up his spine, Kakashi finally came. His eyes closed for a full minute. All sound fled the room save for Iruka's ragged breathing.

His legs tingled as they were lowered back onto the mattress, a pleasant ache settling between his hips. They exchanged soft, slow kisses while they untangled their bodies. Kakashi pressed a kiss against the sides of Iruka's mouth, kissing one side, then the other as he slid out of Iruka's body. The condom was knotted and dropped into the trash can. Kakashi started to stand.

"Wait." Iruka grabbed Kakashi's arm before he could move away. His earlier worries returned tenfold, only now he was afraid that Kakashi was disgusted at him or hated him or...

"I'm only going to get a washcloth." Kakashi's smile was all Iruka needed for reassurance.

He relaxed back onto his bed and matched Kakashi's smile with a muted version of his own. He couldn't bring himself to regret what they'd done, not when it felt like quite possibly the best thing that had ever happened to him. Instead, he wondered why they hadn't done this sooner.

Tomorrow, he'd talk to Yukio. Tonight, he was with Kakashi.

* * *

Iruka waited in the field outside of the Academy, his back against a tree as he watched a group of children – younger than what Iruka usually taught – playing soccer on the opposite side of the field. He was dreading the conversation he had to have with Yukio, but at the same time he was giddy as well. There were no words to describe how he felt about Kakashi, how good it felt to be with him.

A smile broke across Iruka's face. Kakashi made him happy, happier than any of his previous relationships had ever made him. Instead of questioning when and how he should tell his friends, he wanted to tell Genma right away. They were having lunch together in a few hours. Iruka doubted that he'd be able to keep his mouth shut. Genma would know something had happened just from the way Iruka couldn't stop smiling.

That was, of course, assuming he could make it through his conversation with Yukio without things turning ugly.

"Good morning, Iruka."

Iruka jumped, his head snapping to the right. He hadn't even noticed Yukio approach.

"H-hi."

"Did I startle you?" Yukio smiled widely, his eyes twinkling with laughter.

"A little, yeah."

"Did you miss me last night?"

Iruka's smile died as he realized that he hadn't even heard a knock last night, assuming Yukio had been there at all. Yukio wouldn't have stood him up, it wasn't like him. At the least, he would have shown up late or arranged for some way to get word to Iruka that he'd been detained.

Yukio knew.

"I'm sorry," Iruka blurted.

Yukio's hand landed on Iruka's shoulder. His smile was still firmly in place, not even dimmed. "Don't worry. This only makes things more interesting."

Something in Yukio's hand – held in his hand, Iruka belatedly realized, he could feel it pressing against his shoulder – popped, and a cloud of orange dust surrounded Iruka's face. He started to cough. His lungs contracted but the air never left his lungs, frozen along with the rest of his body.

Iruka fell.

"Much more interesting," Yukio said as Iruka passed out.

* * *

Kakashi didn't have to find the ANBU he'd asked to investigate Yukio, she was already waiting inside Kakashi's apartment when he returned for a change of clothes. The red and white tiger's mask was pulled off her face as soon as Kakashi shut the door. Arena spoke quickly.

"We couldn't find anything on Yukio," she said with a frown.

It took Kakashi a second to digest that statement. There couldn't be nothing. Every person in the village had a file from the second they were born, even the most ordinary of citizens. There should have been a school record at the very least, or an address.

Kakashi's fingers curled around the hilt of a kunai. "He's not one of ours." A dozen scenarios filtered through Kakashi's head, some disregarded, others were possible but didn't make sense with Iruka involved.

"Should I alert Tsunade?"

Kakashi nodded slowly. He didn't yet know what Yukio was up to, but he would soon.

"And find Iruka."


	8. Chapter 8

Iruka wasn't in the village. Kakashi had looked. Kakashi, Genma, Anko, Azuma. Half the village had been looking for him after Iruka hadn't shown up for work and the search had spread to the surrounding forests as well. He was nowhere to be found and neither was Yukio.

Kakashi knew he'd felt something off about Yukio. He blamed himself. He should have gone to Tsunade with his suspicions. He should have had Yukio checked out earlier. He should have done it himself.

"Kakashi."

His head turned as Anko appeared beside him. He skid to a halt, narrowly avoiding colliding with the trunk of the tree he'd landed on.

"Tsunade wants to see you."

Kakashi nodded once and disappeared with a flash of his fingers.

* * *

Iruka didn't know where he was. He'd woken up in a cabin, bound to a chair. His body felt numb. Even if he weren't bound, escape was nearly impossible. He could barely even hold his head up. He couldn't move his fingers. At least his chakra wasn't sealed, for all the good it would do him at the moment.

"Good afternoon." A hand smacked him on the cheek. The pain helped him focus. Iruka blinked up at Yukio but movement in the corner caught his attention. Makitomo grinned at him and dread filled the pit of Iruka's stomach. "You remember my cousin, I'm sure."

Iruka had to fight to keep his head up. "Yeah." The word came out slurred. "I remember."

Makitomo stepped forward. "Good." He spat in Iruka's face. "Whore. You could barely keep your pants on once I was gone, forced out of the village because of you."

Makitomo took another step forward. His fist raised. Iruka flinched instinctively but Yukio held out an arm to stop Makitomo from coming closer. "Now, now. No damaging the merchandise."

Iruka frowned. "Merchandise?"

Yukio leaned forward with a wide grin. "You're being sold. Who knows the secrets of the current generation of chuunin and young jounin better than the person that trained them? And all that information is just going to waste right here." Yukio tapped a finger hard against Iruka's forehead.

"What?"

"You can thank Maki," Yukio said. "He wouldn't stop complaining about you after he got transferred out of the village on permanent reassignment. He just wanted revenge on you, but I figured we could do better and make some money in the process."

"You're welcome," Makitomo said with a wide grin.

Yukio stepped away and came back with a syringe. "It might be a while until the buyers get here though, so I'm afraid you're going to have to go back to sleep. Good night."

The needle pierced Iruka's skin. He was out in minutes.

* * *

"Tsuri Yukimoto." Tsunade slid the folder across the desk. Kakashi flipped it open and scanned the contents. The picture matched Yukio. "He's the cousin of Tsuri Makitomo, Iruka's ex-boyfriend. He went missing five years ago."

Kakashi's hands curled into fists. "How did he even get into the village?"

"Faked credentials."

Kakashi wanted to curse and hit things. He didn't dare do so in the Hokage's office. "How-" He bit his lip to cut off the rest of the question. There was no use arguing about what had happened. It'd happened and now Iruka was gone. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing calm. "Do we know why he took Iruka? Some sort of revenge thing?"

"We have no idea. Knowing Makitomo, though, we have a limited time frame to find Iruka. Makitomo isn't one for patience. Whatever he's planning, he's going to do it soon."

Kakashi really wanted to hit something.

"I'll find him," he promised. "I'll find him."

* * *

"Iruka."

His head felt fuzzy.

"Iruka."

There was pain on his face. Someone was hitting him. No, slapping him.

"Iruka. Wakey wakey."

Makitomo. He'd recognize that voice anywhere. He opened his eyes. Makitomo's face swam in his vision.

"Good. There you are." Thick fingers gripped his chin, holding his face steady. "We don't have much time, so you better stay awake for this. Yuki won't be gone long."

Iruka didn't have time to ask what they didn't have time for. Makitomo pulled his arm back and punched Iruka hard across the cheek. The chair toppled over, sending Iruka crashing to the floor. He screamed as he landed on his arm.

Maki grabbed Iruka by the leg and pulled him back upright. "You know, I always knew you were cheating on me."

A second punch sent Iruka to the floor again. He spit out blood in the brief moment of respite before Maki pulled him up again.

"I never imagined it was with Kakashi though. How long have you been spreading your legs for him?"

Maki didn't give him time to answer. Iruka spat out a tooth as he landed on the floor again.

This time Maki didn't pull him up again. Instead he pulled out a knife. Iruka flinched away, but instead of going for flesh, Maki cut through Iruka's bonds. His limbs were still numb, making him flop onto the floor like a fish out of water.

"I don't understand all the fuss. You're a good fuck, I'll give you that, but not that good." Maki rolled Iruka onto his stomach. His hands settled on Iruka's pants and Iruka didn't have to guess what was about to happen.

Not again.

Iruka muttered a quick jutsu. Light flashed, filling the room and Iruka twisted, pulling away as best he could with his limbs not working. Maki flailed with his knife, catching Iruka across the calf. Iruka cursed and cast another jutsu. The floor melted around Makitomo, dropping out beneath him and twisting into vines to hold him. It was the same trick he'd used on Kakashi, only with much more success.

Maki screamed at him and Iruka made a vine wrap around Maki's mouth.

Iruka pushed his limbs to move. He flopped on the floor, his limbs too weak to cooperate. It felt like hours until he could stand and every second he dreaded Yukio coming through the door and injecting him again. He had to hurry but there was only so far he could push his body. He moved to the door as soon as he got his feet under him, stumbling against it. He fumbled with the doorknob for several second before he managed to turn it.

Iruka fell through the door, stumbled to his feet, and weaved his way unsteadily into the woods. His only goal was to get away. Maybe if he got far enough, the serum would wear off and he'd have a fighting chance. That was the best he could hope for.

* * *

They split into four main search parties. Kakashi, Genma, Anko, and Kurenai each took a team and headed out from the village, searching for signs of where Iruka might have been taken. Kakashi took the team heading west. He didn't know why, but he had a hunch. He knew he was going to find Iruka. He knew it because there was no other option. He had to find Iruka. Failure wasn't an option.

* * *

Iruka stumbled through the trees. He was making too much noise. Yukio was going to find him. He couldn't help it, though. His limbs were still numb. He was clumsy. Every step caused a new noise – the crunch of gravel, snap of a twig, or rustle of leaves. He was leaving a trail as clear as a paved road but at least he was moving. That's all he could think about. He had to move, had to get away.

"My, my. Haven't you been naughty."

A sharp pain shot through Iruka's leg and he stumbled and fell. Yukio.

He looked up at two unfamiliar faces wearing Mist headbands. Fuck.

"Lucky for me," Yukio said as he stepped up behind Iruka and grabbed Iruka's hair in a tight fist, "your buyers are excellent trackers." Yukio turned towards the men. "So, here's your merchandise. Where's my money?"

One of the Mist ninja pulled a pouch out of his pocket and tossed it at Yukio. Yukio caught it one-handed and then shoved Iruka forward. Iruka landed in a sprawl, face-first into the ground at the Mist ninja's feet.

"He's all yours, boys."

Strong hands grabbed Iruka by the arms and lifted him to his feet.

They were going to kill him. Iruka could tell just by looking at their faces. They were going to torture him and kill him and he was never going to see his village again. He'd never see his friends or Naruto or Kakashi.

He was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

* * *

Kakashi put forth a burst of speed as soon as the cabin came in sight. There was something familiar about it, something that sensed right. He slammed the door open and started forming a jutsu as he stepped into the cabin. Yukimoto's eyes widened as he turned from where he was trying to pull Makitomo from the vines burying him in the ground. Kakashi slammed his hand down, sending out a shockwave that knocked Makitomo cold and sent Yukimoto sprawling.

He crossed the room in a flash and grabbed Yukimoto by the neck. "Where's Iruka?"

Yukimoto just laughed.

Kakashi slammed Yukimoto's head into the wooden floor. "Where's Iruka?"

"Gone."

Kakashi slammed Yukimoto down again. He could hear Gai talking to him, counselling patience, but he ignored it. "Where?"

Yukimoto laughed again. A sick grin spread across his lips. "I sold him. To Mist. You'll never see him again."

"Fuck." Kakashi hurled Yukimoto through the door and shouted at Arena. "Take him back to the village."

Kakashi stepped out of the cabin and activated his Sharingan. Iruka hadn't even been gone a full day. The Mist ninja couldn't have gotten far. There was an obvious trail through the woods. Kakashi took off following the stumbling path. Iruka had escaped. He'd been hurt or injured, but he'd escaped one and that gave Kakashi hop. Then the trail ended with signs of a small scuffle and Kakashi turned, searching for even the slightest trace of chakra use. He found it, heading southwest.

He wasn't going to lose Iruka. Not now. Not to Mist.

He was going to find Iruka if it was the last thing he did.


	9. Chapter 9

Iruka's captors had decided it was easier to carry him than to deal with his clumsy stumbling. He was beginning to hate whatever that stupid serum was.

Consciousness came to him in fits. He caught flashes of trees and the forest floor. Nothing told him where he was, or where they were going, but wherever it was they were going there pretty fast. His arms were tied behind his back but each jolt that woke him brought a little more feeling back.

He woke again as he collided with the forest floor. He thought at first that they had reached their destination, but as he blinked his eyes open he realized that their halt hadn't been intentional. The Mist ninja that had been carried him was busy dodging an attack from Kakashi, while the other was trapped in a rather impressive taijutsu fight with Gai.

Iruka wanted to cry with relief. He was being rescued.

His limbs tingled. They were still partially numb, but not enough that he couldn't move them. He wiggled, twisting on the forest floor until he got his arms under him, slipping them under his legs and out around to his front. He lifted his arms in front of him and started to chew at the knot.

Kakashi sent a flurry of blows at his opponent, making him stagger within range of Iruka. It was a stupid thing to do, deadly under other circumstances, but Iruka lunged, wrapping his bound arms around his captor's throat and giving Kakashi the opening he needed to gut the Mist ninja.

They both fell. The Mist ninja landed on top of Iruka, a heavy dead weight pinning him to the ground.

"A little help please?" Iruka wiggled his arms free from the corpse.

Kakashi leaned down and hauled the Mist ninja off one handed. There was a loud crash a few feet away and Iruka turned just in time to see the other Mist ninja slum to the ground at the base of a cracked tree.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked as he knelt and pulled Iruka's bound arms towards him. He slit through the bonds with a quick flick of his kunai.

"Still a little numb," Iruka said. "They gave me something. It hasn't worn off yet."

Kakashi extended a hand to help Iruka up, but instead of just pulling him to his feet, he pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Iruka's laugh came out shaky. "Me too." He pulled away from Kakashi reluctantly and only wavered a little bit on his feet. "Come on. Let's get back to the village."

* * *

Iruka spent the first few hours once he was back in the village being checked out by the medical nin and then, once he was released from there, being debriefed by Tsunade. Both Makitomo and Yukio – Yukimoto, Iruka learned – were in custody and would likely be imprisoned for a long time. Iruka felt a little bad about what had happened but he had to remind himself that their actions were not his fault.

When he finally made it home to his apartment, he was surprised to find Kakashi sitting on his porch railing, waiting for him.

"Hi."

"Hi." Kakashi waved.

Iruka unlocked his door and hesitated with his hand on the knob. "Would you like to come in?"

"Of course." Kakashi grinned at him and a little bit of Iruka melted inside.

Iruka led the way inside and flopped on his couch with a groan. Kakashi settled next to him. His arm slid under Iruka's neck to rub lightly at the skin there. Iruka groaned a second time and shifted to give Kakashi better access to his neck. "You have no idea how sore I am," Iruka complained.

"I think I can imagine."

"I never want to do that again."

"I would agree with that." Kakashi leaned forward to place a light kiss on Iruka's forehead.

Iruka shifted to look up at Kakashi. "Are we dating now?"

Kakashi grinned. "I'd like to think so."

"Me too."

Kakashi shifted closer and leaned down to take Iruka's lips in a chaste kiss. "I'll never hurt you. Never."

Iruka leaned his head against Kakashi's shoulder. "I know that." There was no guarantee that Kakashi would never hurt him, but Iruka believed Kakashi. They didn't have to worry about Kakashi becoming abusive. "I'd like to keep training, if we could."

Kakashi grinned. "I'd like that too."

A large yawn interrupted what Iruka was going to say next.

"We should probably go to bed."

Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"To sleep."

Iruka and Kakashi shared a grin.

Kakashi's grin turned lecherous. "For now."

"For now," Iruka agreed.

Kakashi helped Iruka to his feet and they walked hand in hand to the bedroom.

* * *

Kakashi was, for a change, not losing horribly at poker. He attributed it to Iruka at his back, occasionally picking out cards for Kakashi to keep or toss. They made a good pair.

"I don't think it needs said," Genma said, "but if you hurt Iruka, they'll never find your body."

Kakashi snorted. "That was implied." He tossed out two cards and received two more in return.

"Good," Anko said.

"I know quite well how vindictive you all are towards people who hurt Iruka," Kakashi said. "I'm surprised no one's worried about Iruka hurting me."

"That's because if Iruka hurts you, you deserved it," Genma said.

"And they won't find your body," Anko added.

Kakashi snorted again. "I can feel the love."

Iruka's arms wrapped around him from behind and he kissed Kakashi on the forehead. "How about now?"

Kakashi turned his face up to kiss Iruka properly. They were rewarded with a round of catcalls and clinking beer bottles. "Yep," Kakashi said once the kiss was over. "Now I feel loved."

"Good." Iruka rubbed his cheek against Kakashi's hair before sitting back a little. His arms stayed on Kakashi's shoulders.

"Call."

Kakashi grinned and laid out his cards. "Full house."

He had a feeling this was the beginning of a long winning streak. He had Iruka to thank for it, and he would later once they were in bed.

He had a lot of things to be thankful for.


End file.
